1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automated crowd gates for use in herding cattle from an entrance of a cattle holding area, through the area and into a milking parlor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The most pertinent prior art known to applcant includes U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,586 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,741.
The devices comprise a gate suspended from an overhead carriage. As the carriage moves above a cattle holding area the cattle are forced through the area by the suspended gate which sweeps through the area forcing cattle before it.
A cable system is used to raise the gate after its pass through the area in one device, in others a hydraulic system or auxiliary electrical motor system is used.
The gate has means associated with it to stop the carriage when the gate contacts a balky animal. Upon completion of the sweep through the holding area the gate is raised to a horizontal position to allow it to pass over the head of incoming cattle, the carriage is then returned to the beginning position and the gate lowered to begin a new sweep through the holding area.
The systems used are complex and often require associated hydraulic systems for gate raising. Failure of the hydraulic system can drop the gate from its raised horizontal position on to cattle below injuring them.
Further in sweeping through the holding area the gates impinge on the rump of the cattle. A balky cow rather than moving forward when contacted by the gate may resist and may apply force on the gate that derails the device or even throws the carriage off the tracks and into the holding area.